


Gravity Hides Everything

by PunishedKonami



Series: Something Approaching a Superheroverse [5]
Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Medicinal Drug Use, Original Universe, Protective Parents, Single Parents, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Trans Peter Parker, Weed, it helps with peters anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-20
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-26 07:45:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18177842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunishedKonami/pseuds/PunishedKonami
Summary: May Reilly hears a bump in one of her closets.





	Gravity Hides Everything

May normally would have been dragged out of her zone of Excel sheet editing when she heard the front door hit the wall at speed, but today she wasn’t in it to begin with. Nevertheless, she jolted, turned towards it, and saw her brown-haired nephew skid to a stop, crashing against a chair set by the dining table. He held it, barely avoiding a fall. He looked up again, this time turning his gaze towards her, and he said, “Got your text, ‘s everything alright?”

  
May nodded slightly as she gripped the laptop, lifted it from her lap and dropped it beside her on the couch cushion. “Yes, I’m fine,” she said as she pushed off from the couch, standing. “I’m not the one who may be in trouble.”

  
Peter blinked, his mouth slightly gaping. “You, uh --” He looked up at her again, snapping his fingers. “It’s the extra weed, isn’t it? Cause I have a perfectly reasonable explanation for that --”

  
May held up her hands. “No -- no. And if you do have extra weed I would prefer that you not explain how you got it.”

  
Peter’s hand fell slightly. “Oh. Don’t mind me, just being a dumbass,” he said as May shook her head. “That was a -- a joke. I only have the weed that Dr. Raza prescribed.”

  
“Mm,” May said as she put her hands on her hips. Color started to drain from Peter’s face. May never put her hands on her hips. But then she lifted her right hand, flicked her pointer finger to the table. “Would you please tell me what that is?” she asked.

  
Peter’s gut suddenly felt as if it was being sucked in by a black hole. He tried to turn his head -- very slowly, it did. But he knew what he was about to see. For a moment, he feared who he was. And who he was, was laid bare on that table.

  
Peter saw the old suit. The red tights that served as leggings and sleeves had frayed, with threads sticking out. The blue of the denim vest was stained, pale. The red hood still looked as it was years ago. So did the gold goggles and the red scarf he used to mask his mouth. It was all his, alright. His old costume, from before Stark. Peter remembered folding it neatly, smoothing it free of wrinkles (something he never did with the rest of his clothes) before putting it away. Seeing it now, Peter's throat tightened, as if a noose constricted his neck.

  
“So?” May asked. “What is it?”

  
“It’s -- it’s a long story.”

  
“Well, yes, I suppose it would be.”

  
“How did you… even find it?”

  
“Well, I was sitting here looking through Excel sheets, when I hear this -- this thump from the closet next to the TV,” she said, lifting her closed hand and opening it in the air as if to simulate the noise. “So I go and open it, and this box was at my feet that wasn’t there before, duct tape wrapped all ‘round it. I opened it, and I found… that.”

  
Peter’s face felt like the sun as he turned his head to the ground. “Duct tape eventually loses adhesive qualities. Who knew…?”

  
“Hiding it on the ceiling was smart. I’ll give you that.” She took a step towards him. “Peter, I am going to ask you the question you’re thinking I’m going to ask.” Peter turned his eyes towards her. She looked pale. He looked back down at the floor again.

  
“That getup -- it looks exactly like what Spider-Man used to look like, before he joined the Avengers.”

  
Peter nodded.

  
May swallowed, then opened her mouth. After a few seconds of silence, she spoke: “Yes or no, are you actually Spider-Man?”

  
Peter’s jaw set as he nodded yet again.

  
May just stared for a moment, stepped back, then collapsed onto the couch, putting her head in her hands. “God, It’s just starting to set in. That introduction press conference, all the headlines in the papers --”

  
“Hopefully you haven’t read the Bugle,” he muttered.

  
“I’ve seen it in the info stands. Of course I don’t believe it. But it was all you.” She looked up at him. “Peter, it all makes sense now!” she said as she threw up her arms. “All the times you came home at basically dawn, your grades slipping, your physical pain -- all of it.”

  
“I didn’t want to you to worry…” he said, shutting his eyes.

  
“Of course I’m worried, Peter! I’m worried for the future. I’m worried about you,” she said, extending her arm towards him. Her head turned towards him. His eyes were shut tight as he pulled the chair he gripped out from under the table and sat upon it.

  
“Because there could come a time where it could cost you all sorts of things,” she said, her voice quieter.

  
“It hasn’t yet.”

  
She stood, started to walk towards him. “Well -- well, maybe that streak will continue for some time. But it won't last.” Reaching the table, she pulled out a chair next to his, sat on it. “Eventually this could cost you people you love. Michael. Gwen. Me. It could even cost you your own life.”

  
He opened his eyes and turned towards her then, looking at her. May had never seen sadness in his eyes to this extent since the days after her husband died. “Yeah. I know.”

  
May swallowed, looked off to the side. “I don’t like it. I’m pretty sure you know that by now. It could draw a lot of attention our way. But -- I don’t know. You’ve gotten this far…”

  
Peter shook his head. “It’s not about me.”

  
May looked back at him.

  
“It’s not about me. It never was.” He turned his head back up towards her. “I’m not doing this to, like, self-gratify. I’m not doing this because being the subject of a viral video gives me a thrill. I’d -- kinda prefer they’d stop taking those, actually,” he said as May’s lip twitched briefly into a small smile. “I’ve -- I’ve made friends as him. Built relationships. There are people who I talk to, and their lives, the stories they tell… The things that I can do for them, for all of them… Do you understand, May? Do you see where I’m going with this?”

  
She nodded. “It must mean a lot to you, to be able to do those things.”

  
“Yeah. I can’t do what he does. As Spider-Man, I… I can at least be confident enough to be a part of this community. Help it when it needs help. Give it joy when it doesn’t have. That’s what helping to create a friendly neighborhood is about… isn’t it?”

  
May looked at him. Then lifted her arm, placed her hand on his shoulder. “You saying that gives me at least a bit of comfort. I still don’t like it, but… at least it’s you doing it, not someone else.”

  
“You… you’re letting me continue?”

  
May looked to the side again. “Your father -- he used to talk about his job a lot. Probably more than he should have, before he went. Ben remembered one thing from those talks. I think it’s going to be of use to you now. In his position, he wielded a lot of power within his own department. Power to decide what cases he saw, those he acted on. He had all this power, all this responsibility, and so he had to decide: what was he going to do with it?”

  
Peter nodded.

  
“That’s what I’ll leave you with,” she said.

  
Peter nodded again, then asked, “Hug?”

  
May crossed her arms, then asked, “I know it’s part of the whole thing, but -- outside of that, promise me you won’t actively try to get involved with people like the Vulture?”

  
“Promise.”

  
She nodded, smiling though her eyes were sad, as she unfolded her arms and wrapped them around Peter’s back as he did the same to her’s. “Do anything stupid as Spider-Man and you’re grounded for a month,” she said.

  
“Is that retroactive?” he asked. May could tell he said it smiling.

  
May shook her head. “Guess not. Crazy kid.”

**Author's Note:**

> [incredibly loud modest mouse plays as i receive a lawsuit notice in the mail]


End file.
